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Today, modern consumers spend a large part of their time on some sort of digital device. On average, people spend over three hours a day on mobile devices, and a large part of that time is spent using mobile applications, as opposed to browsing the web. Because of this, advertisers are noticing the benefits they can reap by utilizing in-app advertising. As people spend more and more time using their mobile applications, advertising within those apps is driving more and more traffic. This traffic translates into a growing opportunity for businesses who are able to take advantage of it. Because of the unique personalized experiences of applications, in-app ads are able to provide marketers with unprecedented amounts of data, helping those businesses reach their consumers in new and vital ways.

Here are five ways in-app advertising is becoming the new normal for advertising

1. Utilization of Cross-Device

As consumers are becoming more and more digital, they aren’t limiting their activity to just one device. The average user today jumps between a smartphone, a tablet, and a desktop during the course of a normal day, not to mention other devices such as gaming platforms and other household devices. Effective advertising works to deliver a seamless experience to the user, regardless of which device he’s on. As the consumer jumps between platforms, new technologies are able to track a user’s progress so they can pick up where they left off.

All of this activity also leaves a trail of data, helping advertisers learn about each individual user in order to deliver the best, most effective advertising right inside of the app currently being used. As technology improves over the next few years, this seamless experience is only going to improve, ensuring that in-app advertising can only get better and more effective.

2. An Increase in Video

Pop-up advertisements are continuously blocked or loathed. Banner ads are simply ignored. However, advertisements that use video as a medium can be interesting and engaging, and are quickly becoming a popular and widespread form of in-app advertising. Video can include such forms as traditional commercials, interactive mini-games, or other formats that quickly catch the user’s attention and keep them engaged.

Besides being interesting and innovative, video ads also deliver a friendlier experience for the user, who doesn’t want to have his activity paused to deal with annoying pop-ups or banners. For these reasons, advertisers are starting to notice and pay more on mobile video advertising.

3. In-App Spending on the Rise

As stated earlier, most people spend the bulk of their mobile time within an app as compared to browsing the web. As users become more comfortable shopping and spending online, it follows that they are also starting to spend more money within an app. As retailers and businesses are creating apps to deliver a direct shopping experience to consumers, rather than having to rely on their shopping through the web, the direct line from consumer to business is strengthening.

Even when a user is not comfortable buying within the app, users are increasingly using direct apps to find out about products and services before making their purchase. All in all, researching and spending through an application is rapidly increasing, and will soon be the normal mobile shopping experience

4. More and More Messenger Services

As social media usage is on the rise, an even higher increase in the use of social messaging services such as WhatsApp and WeChat has led to a completely new source of advertising. These new social services are expected to top a billion users within the next couple of years. In fact, some analysts predict that social messaging services will soon overshadow standard social media sites soon, and advertisers have taken notice. Facebook is currently working on advertisements within its Facebook Messenger application, and Whatsapp is also working towards being ad-supported.

5. More Personalization Available

As more data is becoming available, advertisers are able to tailor their ads directly towards the individual consumers, allowing for a host of varying ad tactics. By mining the available treasure trove of data, a business can send messages directly to an individual, with information specially suited for that individual’s wants and needs.

With all the options and data now available at an advertiser’s fingertips, the digital market is set for a revolution in advertising. As mobile application use becomes even more dominant in the next few years, consumers have to be targeted in increasingly new and innovative ways.

With a seamless cross-device experience, users are now able to work within an app for extended periods of time, allowing businesses to gather a seemingly infinite amount of data that can be used to help deliver a personalized advertising experience, whether it be through interactive content, video, or some other means. Regardless of how it happens, marketers need to be ready to change and adapt along with the new available technologies.

Since its recent release, Pokemon Go has been sweeping the country as the new rage in gaming. You can find trainers searching for new and rare Pokemon all over, from parks and movie theaters to shopping malls and restaurants.

If your business hasn’t already jumped on the Pokemon Gaming bandwagon, you should highly consider it. Social media alone is a huge, free tool that your business can be using to grow its reach. Think of Pokemon Go in the same light, as a great way to reach new customers and better engage with your existing customers and loyalists.

Here are some innovative ways that you can leverage Pokemon go for your business:

1) Host a Lure Party

Like many businesses host trivia or happy hour, you can boost your sales by hosting a lure party at your business. Post on your social media and let your customers know that on specified days between certain hours that you and your crew are going to be constantly tossing lures at the Poke Stop or Stops at your business. This is great for you because you may be able to pull in more traffic during your slow hours at work, or you can draw in even more customers during your busiest days and evenings. It’s great for your customers because they can sit for an hour or two and have fun loading up on items and catching Pokemon. Post the dates and times of your lure parties outside of your business, inside, and make sure that you post on your social media accounts to let your fans know.

2) Offer Discounts to Gym Leaders

Have a gym near or at your business? Offering incentives to gym leaders is an awesome way to build customer loyalty. Let your customers know that if they can show you that they are currently leading a gym that you are going to offer them some kind of bonus or discount with their purchase. If you own a restaurant or bar, think of doing something like a free drink, free or discounted appetizers, or buy-one-get-one offers to entice them to keep coming back for more.

3) Host a Hunt that Starts and Ends at Your Business

Hosting a Pokemon hunt is another excellent way to promote your business. Think of hosting a Pokemon hunt as a scavenger hunt for Pokemon, that begins and ends at your business. Pick a date and a start and end time for your Pokemon hunt, and let your customers know about it.

For this, you are might want to get a good idea of what some of the Pokemon are in your area. Create a map with a route linking to other Poke Stops and highly concentrated Pokemon areas in the vicinity of your business, but don’t give out the map and the list of Pokemon until your customers show up in person. Give your customers a map and the list of what they need to catch and take a picture of before they return to your business. For instance, the first person back that has completed the route and has taken pictures of all the designated Pokemon in the area, gets a prize or a freebie. You could also offer fun bonuses, freebies, discounts, and deals for everyone who participates.

4) Incentivize Posts of Pokemon in Your Business

Social sharing is a great way to promote you and show that you are a Pokemon Go friendly business. Offer your customers rewards for the pictures, videos, and check-ins that they share of themselves or the Pokemon that they are catching at your business. You can run week or month long contests that give your customers the opportunity to compete for the most shares in that given period of time. You can put your prizes in tiers to offer better prizes to the people who share the most while they are catching Pokemon at your business.

An example might include running a month long competition for your customers that offers:

A free ____ for 8 social check-ins during the month

A free ____ for 8 check-ins and 8 picture posts of them playing Pokemon Go, during the month

_____ for the person who tagged the most people in their posts during the month

A huge reward for the person who shares the most pictures, videos, and has the most checkins throughout the month.

Including lots of different prizes for the customers that are sharing pictures and video of your business and engaging you the most is a really cheap and effective way for expanding the social reach and credibility of your business.

There are tons of great ways to use Pokemon Go to promote your business to that gaming community. Start implementing some of these methods to show the fun, creative, and rewarding part of being a regular or loyalist of your business. Brainstorm some other ways that you can begin using Pokemon Go to bring in more customers, and bring your current customers closer to you.

Pokemon lovers and business owners rejoice, there is a new business tactic that is sure to bring customers around. Less than a week after the release of Pokemon Go, this augmented reality game surpassed the engagement of Snapchat and is installed on more phones than Tinder. Users are getting sore legs from merely investigating the town in search of the next Pokemon. Often, users find themselves entering local stores, restaurants and other businesses. Businesses caught on and have begun incorporating this into their marketing strategies.

One of the many in-app purchases includes what the game calls “Lures”. Lures increase the rate of Pokemon generation in the area around the PokeStop where they’re placed for one half hour. When you break down the cost, it comes to a mere $1.19 an hour for tons of guaranteed foot traffic to your business. Pokemon fanatics are always looking for the next rare Pokemon in their area; promote your lure on social media and watch the players flock.

RAIN will help your business tap into the fascinating market of Pokemon Go enthusiasts. With the help of our team, you can create a lure near your business or find out if you’re near a Pokemon gym to attract a wide variety of consumers. Imagine a Pokemon Go user walks into a local restaurant and smells the overwhelming aroma of French fries, do you really think they could resist? Act today and watch your business grow.

It is our goal to give our customers the best experience around, part of that means staying on top of the latest trends. If you have any suggestions of a service we should add, please reach out to info@rainlocal.com.

Business Insider recently featured Rain as one of the top 15 fastest-growing startups! Mobile marketing is more important than ever. At Rain, we are passionate about helping small businesses grow and thrive. From ad creation to the ad buy, to daily reporting and monitoring, let us help you reach your mobile customers today! Check out the article here.